Payathangai Paruppu Thoran

Thoran is a very common and popular stir fry served usually as an accompaniment with steamed rice and Sambar. It can be prepared with almost all the vegetables, like raw bananas, pumpkin, all the different varieties of beans, carrot, cabbage etc. Usually the vegetables are finely chopped and stir fried in coconut oil and finally garnished with some fresh coconut.

Couple of days back, when I got these yard long beans I was getting ready to prepare it like any other day, then my MIL, asked me to soak some pasi paruppu/moong dal and add to the thoran. The thoran made with the addition of the dal was very delicious and all including my kids enjoyed this slightly varied version of the thoran.

Serves - 4

What you'll need

1. Payathangai/Yard Long Beans – 500 gms
2. Moong Dal/Pasi Paruppu – ¼ cup
3. Fresh Scraped Coconut – 1/3 cup
4. Green Chillies – 2 to 3
5. Curry Leaves - few
6. Turemeric Powder – ¼ tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Coconut Oil – 1 tbsp
9. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
10. Broken Urad Dal – 1 tsp

Method

1. Wash the dal, rinse well and soak it for 20 minutes.
2. Wash the yard long beans, string it and finely chop the beans. Keep aside.
3. Heat a Kadai with oil, temper with mustard seeds and urad dal, once the dal changes color add half of the chopped beans stir well.
4. Now drain the dal and spread it as a layer over the beans and top it with the remaining beans in such a way that the dal is covered by the beans.
5. Sprinkle some water, cover and cook for 5 minutes on medium to low heat.
6. Remove the lid and stir, add the salt and turmeric powder,  sprinkle more water if required cover and cook till the beans is cooked.
7. Remove the lid and let it fry for a while, keep stirring once in a while.
8. In the meantime, add the coconut, green chillies and curry leaves in a small mixie jar and pulse it for a few seconds.
9. Add this to the beans and stir well. Fry for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.

Delicious Payathangai Thoran is ready. Serve as an accompaniment with rice and Sambar or Mor Kootan or with Rasam.